Thursday, February 26, 2009

Larry and I got the opportunity to ski the Y-Couloir in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The Y is a true Wasatch Gem in that offers 3,200 ft. of vertical at a consistent 40° pitch. Getting to the top of the Y is fairly simple. Load your skis on your pack and start bootin. The Y is the true Stairmaster.Just about the time I thought I was core for hiking the Y, I was quickly slapped in the face, when a crazy Euro dude popped his head over the summit. He had hiked up in Timberland work boots and ripped blue jeans, not to mention he was lacking a sliding apparatus to get him back down. Yes, he hiked down the same boot pack that he came up in.

The Y Couloir in all its Glory

At this point I was really wishing Larry would have fixed the hole in his pants.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I am sure you are all sick of my blogs about skiing, but it is hard to write about anything else when the Wasatch is just this good. The storms have been consistent and the snow deep. The College Crew rolled in for the weekend and awoke to a foot or more of fresh at The Bird. I heard quite a few "That was the best day of the year" comments at the Condo that night. Needless to say, I was excited the others got to sample the Utah goods, that us locals sometimes take for granted.

Mark from Boise was the only one in the house that came with backcountry gear and a split board. Yes, he was rewarded.

Mark felt out a fairly large stump in the white room on this run.

Northwest Face of Silver Fork (Check out the nuking winds coming off the ridge. If you look closely at the right hand side, you can see the wind slab Mark set off.

A closer view of the wind slab debris

Before I met up with Skiapalooza Posse, I had a roomate day in the Basin Backcountry. The roomates and I had one of those days with bluebird skies and perfect snow. We even got the rare opportunity to ski the Fingers. The Fingers are a zone of chutes off Mt. Ogden. They rarely open as they are often chalked with avy debris, contain variable snow, and develop huge cornices. However, today was the day, as they opened for only 2 hours with ideal conditions.

Crow finishing off his run in Cold Water Canyon with Style.

It had been a couple of days since the last storm, but the snow still had the usual Wasatch Charm. Crow tests it out in Hell's Canyon.

Lacey, Saves lives at night and slashes Pow by day

Me, Finishing out the Cold Water run and headed for a little bushwack(I am going to dedicate a future blog to this term)

Getting amongst it in the Wicked Witch.

With all the snow flying around I was due a mental health day. I headed out with Larry and Chris for an ascent of Mt. Wilson My mental health was restored with the 2 ft plus of fresh that welcomed us on Wilson.

I got a lot of crap for the self portraits I posted in my last blog, but I couldn't pass this one up since I was sporting some nice Sweatcicles.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

With a beautiful Saturday brewing in the Wasatch, Larry and I decided to go for a bi-canyon journey. We dropped a car in Mill Creek Canyon and headed for the Butler Fork Trailhead in Big Cottonwood. The ski descent for the day was off the summit of Gobbler's Knob down the north face to the car parked at the Porter's Fork Trail head in Mill Creek. Needless to say, the stoke was high, as this is an area that Larry and I have discussed on more than a few hazy nights.

The summit of Gobbler's provided us with endless views of the Wasatch ski terrain, stirring dreams for the future. The down was the highlight and ranks near the top of my backcountry ski descents. The sun produced high levels of serotonin in the brain, the sky was blue, the snow was smooth cream powder, and the skiing was fun from off the summit (10,242 ft) all the way to the car (5,950 ft). Gobbler's offers wide open rolling terrain at a perfect pitch, and did I mention it is a long run. The mental test of bushwhacking on non-existent hiking trails often associated with exiting a backcountry line was not the case. The Porter Fork trail was perfect for a James Bond style ride down the mountain, leaving me with nothing but smiles as I hit the gate.